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The Evil Queen
: “''When she breaks the tender peel, to taste the apple in my hand, her breath will still, her blood congeal, then I'll be fairest in the land!” : ―The Evil Queen on her plans to poison Snow White '''The Evil Queen', also known as the Wicked Queen or just the Queen is the primary antagonist of Disney's 1937 film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and the first Disney animated features canon villain. Determined to remain the fairest of all, the Queen becomes insanely jealous of Snow White, the only one whose beauty surpasses her own. She eventually uses dark magic in the form of an aging potion to transform herself into an old woman, in a final attempt to do away with her only, unknowing rival. Depicted in early designs as a fat character, her appearance eventually evolved into a much more sinister, stately beauty. She is generally one of Disney's most iconic and menacing first villains, once being voted the 10th greatest movie villain of all time. The Queen was animated by Art Babbittand the Witch by Norman Ferguson. Although they are technically the same character, official materials such as the 1993 Disney Classics card set have depicted them as being different entities. Her name was given as Queen Grimhilde in some old publicity material and comics, but the Walt Disney Company does not seem to acknowledge it as canon. She is sometimes referred to as the Wicked Queen, while theme parks sometimes refer to her as the Snow Queen (Not to be confused with Elsa the Snow Queen). The Witch is sometimes referred to as the Old Hag after drinking the aging potion. The Queen is, along with Maleficent, one of the most prominent of the Disney Villains. Voice Lucille La Verne was first asked to provide only the voice of Vengeance in A Tale of Two Cities,3 but read for both parts and was later offered the part of the Queen when no other actress was found. Some at the studio felt that her voice was too deep, but David Hand argued that she "knew how to deliver lines," particularly when adding ingredients to the potion. Bill Cottrell and Joe Grant were in charge of La Verne's recording session. At first they felt that her voice was too smooth for the Witch. Asking herself to be excused, La Verne left the room; upon returning a few moments later, her voice was exactly what Cottrell and Grant wanted. When asked how she achieved this, La Verne admitted that she had removed her false teeth. Cottrel was so convinced by La Verne's performance that, at the line "A drink of water! Please!", he leaped from his chair to fetch her a drink. Joe Grant noticed La Verne's changing attitude and posture when voicing the Queen and Witch, and sketched these poses down for animation reference. Personality The Queen does not appear to be significantly involved in governing her kingdom (since she is solely focused on being the fairest in the land), though the skeletal remains of prisoners in her dungeon point to her being a cruel ruler. She wants nothing more than to be the fairest in the land. She is cold, cruel and has an extreme vanity that made her utterly intolerant of rivals. Her vanity and jealousy of Snow White's superior beauty and the Prince's affections eventually drove her to murderous insanity. She transformed herself into a hideous hag and conjured a poison named 'The Sleeping Death' to achieve this end as a sign of her determination and desperation. The Witch, being an alternate form of the Queen, has some of her personality traits, most notably her vanity and unstable jealousy of Snow White, kept intact. However, due in part to the transformation, she has also become more outwardly maniacal and sadistic, constantly cackling insanely as well as once trying to play an extremely cruel joke on her pet raven by making it seem as though she wanted it to eat the poisoned apple. Despite her insanity, she was also extremely intelligent and calculating, wanting to ensure that she not overlook anything in order to make her plans an absolute success. This trait was especially evident in her stopping herself while gloating about how the poisoned apple will ensure Snow White's eventual demise in order to look up whether there was a cure to the effects of the poisoned apple that would be able to cause her plans to fail. However, the book My Side of the Story: Snow White/The Queen reveals that the Queen was actually very kind to Snow White at first (she even has a portrait of her stepdaughter on one of the walls of the castle), but she gets too wound up in her jealousy, which ultimately results in her untimely end.4567 The book also reveals her, when not in her castle, owning a grocery store (as seen in the last page of the book)8 and that the Huntsman was a very good friend of hers9. She also, according to her explanation, made Snow White a servant in her castle to keep her stepdaughter from being lazy (The Queen also tells Snow White to do chores everyday because it's a "good exercise" - this is proven in one scene from the book where Snow White eats some cake, only for The Queen to snatch it away from her stepdaughter, telling her not to eat sweets because she is "still in growth & needs to diet10"). Also, according to The Queen, she never asks the Magic Mirror who is the fairest in the land. But the Magic Mirror keeps complimenting on how beautiful The Queen is11 (in its opinion). In the scene where Snow White first meets The Prince and flirts with him, The Queen watches them from her window with a worried look on her face, concerned about Snow White's safety with an older boy (whereas in the film, she watches them with anger and jealousy of Snow White's beauty). In addition, the Serena Valentino novel Fairest of All paints her in a far more tragic light, that of an extremely broken woman who, due to emotional abuse from her father, was feeling extremely insecure about whether or not she truly was beautiful. It also showed that she did initially genuinely care for Snow White as if she were her own daughter before the king's untimely demise. Physical appearance The Queen is an icily beautiful woman with a serene, unfeeling face and a slender figure. She has pale skin, long raven black hair, green eyes, red lips and seemingly penciled-on eyebrows. Her features and her royal attire create a very stunning and beautiful Queenly image. The Queen is seen wearing a purple gown with long sleeves and a red rope belt tied around her waist. She wears a black balaclava that covers her ears, neck and hair, leaving her face exposed. The Queen wears a long black cloak that appears to be part of the cowl. The cloak is lined with red inside and the bottom of the cloak is lined with white fur. She has a high white collar attached to her cloak. She also wears a golden pendant that seems to connect with the collar. She also wears orange-yellow high-heel pumps. To top off her royal appearance, the Evil Queen wears a golden crown atop her head with 5 spikes on the front and a jewel on the tip of the middle and tallest spike. The color scheme of her attire represents her pride and vanity. In her witch disguise, the Queen's physical appearance changes from that of a youthfully beautiful queen with an unfeeling look on her face to that of an ugly, old peddler vividly displaying emotions. She has long, tangled white hair, thick eyebrows, green eyes and dark rings around her eyes. Her nose becomes long and crooked with a large wart, and she only has one visible tooth on her bottom jaw. Her hands are gnarled and have pointed, dirty fingernails. She dons a black, cowled robe that retains the hanging sleeves of her gown. She also seems to wear gray slippers. Walt Disney described the Queen as "a mixture of Lady Macbeth and the Big Bad Wolf... her beauty is sinister, mature, plenty of curves... she becomes ugly and menacing when scheming and mixing her poisons; magic fluids transform her into an old, witch-like hag." Abandoned Concepts Imprisoning the Prince It was originally planned that, jealous of the Prince's affections for Snow White, the Queen would have him brought to her, and she would have him locked in her dungeon. As the Witch, she would have made the skeletons in the dungeon (one of whom would have been identified as 'Prince Oswald') rise up and dance. She would have left the Prince in the dungeon, and he was to escape in the manner of Errol Flynn, enabling him to reach Snow White and break the spell.12The idea was abandoned when it was realized how difficult it was to animate the Prince convincingly, and the character only appeared when he needed to further the story, which centered primarily around the relationship between Snow White and the Queen. However, comics released to promote the film include such scenes; the Witch locks up the Prince and tells him of her plans for Snow White, telling him that she will win his affections, while the Prince is defiant. Later, as the animators became more experienced at animating human characters, a similar concept was used in Sleeping Beauty, in whichMaleficent has Prince Phillip captured and taken to the Forbidden Mountains, where she shows him visions of the future she has planned for him. Deleted Scenes A very short sequence involving the Witch stirring her cauldron was fully animated and completed, and was among the scenes cut from the film by Walt Disney at the last minute. In the sequence, the Raven looks on as the Witch stirs the cauldron with a huge bone. She pauses to see that the smoke rising from the brew is shaped like skulls, and adds a drop of an unknown ingredient to the concoction. At this, smoke from the cauldron fills the room. This sequence would have occurred immediately after the scene of the Seven Dwarfs going to sleep in their cottage; the sequence would have been followed by the scene in which the Witch dips the apple into the brew to make it poisonous. Appearances Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Discovering Snow White's Beauty Jealous of her stepdaughter Snow White's beauty, the Queen forces her to work as a servant in her castle; even in rags and wooden shoes, however, Snow White's beauty shines through, causing the Queen to worry that Snow White's beauty may one day surpass her own. She has such vanity that she consults herMagic Mirror every day, ordering the slave within to reveal the name of the fairest in the land. Every day the spirit says that the Queen is the fairest, and she is content, until the mirror informs her that Snow White has finally become the fairest in the land. Outside, as Snow White works, she sings to herself, attracting the attention of the Prince, who is passing by, and they are instantly infatuated with each other. The Queen watches from her window, unseen by the two lovers, and, jealous both of Snow White's beauty and the Prince's affections, closes the curtains furiously. The Huntsman's Orders Summoning her faithful Huntsman to her, the Queen orders him to take Snow White far into a secluded area of the forest, where she can pick wild flowers, and kill her. She presents him with a box, in which Snow White's heart must be brought as proof. The Huntsman is reluctant to carry out such a deed, but, knowing the penalty for failure, takes Snow White deep into the forest. Just as he is about to stab the princess, he finds that he cannot bring himself to destroy such innocent beauty and, frantically warning Snow White of the Queen's vanity and jealousy, tells her to flee into the forest. He returns to the Queen, bringing in the box the heart of a pig to fool her. Meanwhile, Snow White finds the Cottage of the Seven Dwarfs, and is found by the dwarfs, whom she tells of the Queen's attempts to kill her. They are fearful of the dark magic of the Queen, not least because, Grumpy, not keen on having a woman around the house, refers to her as an "ol' witch", and suggests that she may have discovered them already, have made herself invisible, and be watching them right now. They nevertheless take pity and agree to take her in. Transformation into the Witch That night, the Queen once again consults the slave in the Magic Mirror, who tells her that Snow White is living in the cottage of the Seven Dwarfs and that the Huntsman has brought her a pig's heart. Furious, the Queen descends a spiral staircase, entering a dark chamber filled with arcane and magical artifacts, as well as her pet raven perched on a skull. She decides to go to the cottage herself, disguised as a peddler. Consulting a book on disguises, she mixes the required potion ingredients (though exactly how she prepared most of them into a tangible form for the concoction can be anyone's guess), such as mummy dust to make her old, the black of night to cloak her clothing, an old hag's cackle to age her voice, a scream of fright to whiten her hair, a blast of wind to fan her hate, and finally a thunderbolt to mix it well. After putting all the ingredients together, she drinks the potion and turns herself from a regally beautiful queen to an ugly old hag. She then decides to dispose of Snow White with a poisoned apple, which will send its victim into the Sleeping Death. The Sleeping Death The Witch brews the poison and dips an apple into the brew, turning it black, then, upon her orders, a tempting red, giving the poisoned fruit the appearance of an ordinary, if not exceptionally appetizing in appearance, apple. She then voices her plot to her raven, before having her boastful declarations halted by the possibilities of her schemes facing failure. To ensure no antidote gets in her way, she consults her spell book, quickly finding that the victim of the "Sleeping Death" can only be revived by "Love's First Kiss". This brings no sense of fear or apprehension to her, as she firmly believes the dwarfs, as they would think Snow White is actually dead, will bury her alive. Cackling to herself, she puts the apple in a basket, and walks down through the dungeon below, emerging from the castle's catacombs in a raft. On her way down the catacombs, she passes by a skeleton who appears to be reaching for an empty jug of water and sarcastically asks if he wants a drink before kicking the jug into the skeleton, smashing it to pieces. As she makes her way to the dwarfs' cottage, two sinister vultures see her and, sensing that death is imminent, quietly pursue her. Defeat She reaches the cottage and, according to plan, finds that the dwarfs have left and Snow White is alone. Catching her by surprise as she is preparing a gooseberry pie for the dwarfs, the Witch offers her the apple, claiming apple pies to be the superior dish and offering the poisoned apple for Snow White to sample. As the meeting occurs, however, Snow White's bird companions spot the vultures darkly observing and anticipating what's to come, indirectly informing them that the Witch has evil intentions. They attack her before Snow White is able to take hold of the apple, successfully delaying the former's plot, though Snow White orders them to leave, as she still believes the Witch to be a harmless peddler. The Witch cleverly uses Snow White's kindness to her advantage and pretends to be shaken from the attack, asking for shelter within the cottage, to which Snow White obliges to. This forces the birds and other forest animals to rush over the diamond mines and alert the dwarfs of what's happening Meanwhile, the Witch manipulates Snow White into believing the apple is actually a "magic, wishing apple", capable of making one's dreams come true with one simple bite; offering it in gratitude of fending off the birds. Snow White becomes taken with the idea once the Witch openly mentions speculation that her wish may have something to do with someone she loves, referencing the Prince. Wanting to finally reunite with him, she takes the apple, makes the wish to live a happy life by his side, and takes a bite. In a matter of seconds, she falls under the curse and drops to the floor unconscious. The Witch cackles in joyous victory, declaring she'll now be the fairest in the land, and makes her leave to return to her castle, only to find the dwarfs have learned of her villainy and have come to rescue Snow White. The Witch fearfully flees the furious dwarfs, and soon finds herself trapped on the cliff of a rocky mountain, with the vultures perched onto a nearby tree branch, watching the events unfold. Spoting a massive boulder nearby, the Witch tries to kill the dwarfs by crushing them with it, cackling insanely as she does so. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes the cliff, destroying the portion holding the Witch, and causing her to fall hundreds of feet below to her death. The boulder tumbles down after her, crushing her body and ensuring her demise. The vultures then fly down the cliff to devour her lifeless body remains. Descendants he Evil Queen appears in the Disney Channel original movie. Here, she is the mother of one of the protagonists, Evie and is portrayed by Kathy Najimy. For 20 years of imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost, she has taught her daughter how to cook, sew, and do make-up. Due to her influence, her daughter has an ingrained obsession with beauty and the domestic skills that can entice a husband. She is also said to be the neighbor of Maleficent. Maleficent always relies on the Evil Queen to open the refrigerator in order to help get her spellbook since she has no knowledge on how to open it herself. She plots with Maleficent along with Cruella De Vil and Jafar to use their children to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand so as to bend good and evil to their will. Though, she doesn't seem quite as invested as Maleficent, however, she does seem more invested than Jafar. To allow her children to make sure their mission in Auradon is a success, she gives her daughter the magic mirror (apparently smaller than it used to be) to help them find the wand; hoping her daughter could also find a prince to marry as well. She still holds a grudge against Snow White for being the fairest of them all.13 Trivia * In the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the Queen uses her own darkness to control the Magic Mirror and force it to battle Terra. In the English version, however, she simply smashes a potion on the Mirror to make it obey. * In the English version of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, the Queen is voiced by Susanne Blakeslee, who also voiced Maleficent, and Lady Tremaine in the same game. Her iconic scene with the Magic Mirror is near-faithfully recreated in the English version, save for changing her term to refer to the mirror from the original film's "slave" to "spirit". * She, along with other Disney villains, helped inspire Queen Narissa from Enchanted. It is interesting to note Queen Narissa sends Giselle to the "real world" so she won't have a happy ending. Queen Regina, who is also based off the Queen, does this as well, but not just to one person, but to a whole kingdom. * Her name, Regina, in Once Upon a Time is Latin for "Queen". * The Evil Queen is the very first female antagonist in a Disney movie. * The queen is ranked number 10 on the AFI's 100 Years, 100 Heroes and Villains, being the highest ranked animated villain on the list, in front of Man (Bambi) at number 20 and Cruella De Vil (One Hundred and One Dalmatians) at number 39. * The Queen never interacted with Snow White in the film on-screen. She only interacted with her in her witch form. In the original story and even in alternate versions of Snow White, however, she does indeed interact with her stepmother. * Her scream upon falling to her presumed death is later reused for Maleficent when she gets stabbed in the heart byPrince Phillip. * Her transformation is considered one of the scariest scenes in a Disney animated movie. * The Queen is one of the very few Disney villains to break the fourth wall literally as she while as a Witch speaks directly to the audience. She also briefly after learning Snow White is fairer than her looks at the audience. * When talking to Princess Sofia, Snow White mentions her stepmother when telling her not everything is as it seems. * The Queen never smiles in the film, while in her normal form, except when making the potion, while, adding the black as night potion, if you look closely, she gives a brief grin. She does smile more frequently when she is in her hag form. Differences from the source materialEdit * In the first Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale, the Queen was Snow White's biological mother; however, in all later versions she was the heroine's stepmother, as she is in the film. * In the original Snow White fairy tale, the Queen did not drink a potion to transform into a peddler woman, but merely 'painted her face.' * The Queen also visited Snow White three times, each time in a different disguise and with a different object; first, she came with a corset, which she used to draw the breath from Snow White (the dwarfs arrive in time to remove the corset); second, she came with a poisoned comb, which she put in Snow White's hair (the dwarfs simply remove it); finally, she came with the poisoned apple, the effects of which the dwarfs were unable to undo. However, as noted in the Deleted Scenes section above, they were considered to be implemented, but were removed due to time constraints. * Snow White was not cured in the original story by being kissed; the Prince was amazed at her beauty and had her carried in the glass coffin to his castle; on the way, she was knocked, and the piece of poisoned apple fell out of her mouth. * In the fairy tale, the Queen was killed much later and in a far more gruesome manner, at the wedding of Snow White; she was forced to wear red hot iron shoes, in the dungeon, which she danced until she fell down dead, however others versions say that she died instantly from so much rage in her heart after seeing Snow White still alive. While in the film, she was killed off much earlier where after being chased by the dwarfs towards a cliff, she then falls down to her death when lightning strikes the cliff ledge. * In the fairy tale, The Queen was returning back to the castle to reveal herself, and she asked the magic mirror the same question as usual. He says she is the most fairest of all. And she finally can sleep well. * In the original, the Hunstman brings her the liver, heart and lungs of a boar, and the Queen, thinking them to be Snow White's organs, eats them in a stew.